1808.] 
and of others again, who supposed him to 
have been the same with Manlius the 
mathematician, also mentioned in Pliny*, 
who, by an order from Augustus, had 
placed a golden ball upon an obelisk, 
which forined a kind of zodiacal sun-dial, 
from i's shadow marking the hours. The 
mathermatician of Pliny appears to have 
had nothing iv common with our poet; 
and if they had been the same person, it 
is not prob yable that the naturalist would 
have omitted so remarkable a circuin- 
stance. That it was not necessary that 
the poet, whoever he was, should have 
at’ the same time been’ an excellent ma- 
thematician, may be inferred from the 
instnes of ‘At atus, who also wrote a po- 
emon, Astronomy, taough, according to 
Ci cerof, he was ignorant of the first prin- 
ciples of the science; and Manilius him- 
self sometinies betrays great want of 
skill-in the subject which he selected for 
the exercise of his muse. That he was 
2 poet, is sufitviently verified by the poem 
itself; that he was an astronmer, may 
be doubted. Le probably only collected 
into one mass, whatever he had read in 
various Greek and Roman authors, and 
embellished it with the graces. of poetry. 
We must not therefore be surprised if he 
sometimes contradicts himself. 
Dr. Bentley} is of opinion, that who- 
ever was the author, it was not published 
by him. Tt remained unknown till the 
reign of Constantine. Hence it*is that 
no one of the ancient grammarians have 
cited any of its verses; which would pro- 
bably have been the case, had the poem 
been known te them, as we frequently 
see in their collections innumerable lines 
eited of a ae whose works are no 
fonger extant. About the reign of Con- 
stantine, it appears to have fallen into 
the possession of Julius-Firmicus Ma- 
ternus, who leita commentary, or rather 
a mere translation, in prose, of the po- 
em, without acknowledging the source 
whence he derived ‘all that he. has evi- 
dently taken from Manilius. It then re- 
lapsed into darkness and oblivion, till it 
was discovered i the tenth century, but 
in a most wretched condition; froim this 
copy, how ever, many transcriptions were 
made. There is, we admit, more of con- 
jecture than, of certainty in this stare- 
ment; but it will perhapsappear proba- 
ble upon reflection, and may serve to ac- 
count for the Bilenes of Ovid and Quinc- 
ilies ay Melba RRA oS Geib SA SRR eS CRS 
* Nat.: Hist! xxxvi. 10. 
+ De Nat. Deor. 2. 41. 
} Pref. in Manil. 
Lyceum of Ancient Literature—Mantlius. 
‘tertained. 
S11 
tilian upon the work of Maniltus*®. | It is” 
certain that the poem was not left by its 
author in a state fit for publication. It 
is evidently imperfect and unfinished, 
though to what extent 1t was his inten- 
tion to enlarge it, or what other subjects 
connected with ‘the science in its then 
limited sphere, he meant to introduce, it 
is now not easy to conjecture. The pos 
et (ib. i. v. 112) hopes for a long and 
peacetul old age, that he may have time 
to put the finishing to hiswork. He hints 
at a variety of topics, which we do nat 
find are afterwards illustrated. He pro- 
mises to speak of the properties of pla+- 
iets; of their different aspects; of their 
conection with the Decania and Dede-~ 
cutemoria of the signs, and the twelve ce- 
Jestial houses; of the power of the con- 
stellauions at their setting ; of all which, 
nothing is to be found in any remaining 
art of the poem. 
There is almost as much uncertainty 
respecting the tame when Manilius is 
supposed to have existed; though, in this 
respect, there are many circumstances 
to be collected from the poem, which in= 
duce us to adopt the common opinion, 
that he wrote under Augustus. By Gea 
vartius, he is placed so ‘low as the reign 
of Theodosius and he considers him ag 
the same Manlius Theodorus the consul, 
to whom Claudian has addressed one of 
his panegyrics. But the arguments 
which Gevartius:adduces in support of 
this hypothesis, are by no means con- 
vincing. From the mere similarity of 
name, no sufficient elucidation can pos- 
sibly be drawn; nor is it enough to ase 
sert, that the name of Mantius.does not 
occur in any of the ancient writers; to 
infer that he could not have existed i 
the classic era of Rome. Manilius has 
that in common with many other authors, 
of whose antiquity no doubt has been ens 
Q. Curtius, the historian of 
Alexander, lay so long calnine n, that not 
the slightest mention is. made of him. by 
any writer of Greece or Rome; vor was 
he discovered till about, the tenth centus 
ry from the birth of our Saviour, The 
writings of Velleius Paterculus are so lit- 
tle noticed by his contemporaries, and 
by-later authors, that, had it not been 
for the accidental discovery of a MS. in 
some part of Germany, miserably tora 
and detaced, the very name of that ele- 
gant historian would have been lost to- 
us. Yet there are few, however slender 
* Vide Pingré Introd, aux Astronomiques © 
de Man, 
their 
